Last year, we found an awesome screen recording app, but it was only for Mac. Most of our team uses Windows, so we couldn't create the polished, professional recordings we wanted.
We decided to build a new screen recording app for Windows to simplify the process of making videos for online publishing. Our app, Canvid, includes features like mouse tracking and smoothing, automatic zooms, transcripts, captions, and visual enhancements like backgrounds and shadows.
Canvid is built with Electron (with custom patches) to leverage web technologies and minimize the need for extra system maintenance. Our biggest challenge was crafting a great user experience primarily using web and Electron technologies. Technologies like WebCodec, WebAudio API, and insertable streams were incredibly helpful, but ultimately, we had to patch Electron/Chromium and add several native modules to replace or enhance functionalities that weren't available in Electron.
Another tough aspect was our captioning system. We use Whisper for transcripts but ultimately want users to be able to edit their video while navigating the transcript. We're still working on getting precise, word/token level timestamps, but we're making progress.
We're proud of what we've achieved with Canvid and would love to hear your thoughts or feedback if you've tried it out. Happy to answer any questions!
Show HN: Create screen recordings with ease on Windows
canvid.com